


The Only Engine of Survival

by Elefwin



Category: Transformers (Bayverse)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 02:05:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elefwin/pseuds/Elefwin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>according to Leonard Cohen, <i>love</i> is that ultimate power. the universe tends to agree?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only Engine of Survival

"SAM!"

Sam hears, perfectly. Every shot and explosion, the scream of the air above and the groan of the earth below, every fragment of shrapnel, every step, every breath, every voice, alone and together: his parents. Bee. The captain. Mikaela.

He feels, too: heat and grit, hands on him, gelled pads, different kinds of fabric in his hands, every grain of sand, every tiny piece of the Matrix slipping through his fingers.

He knows, he just cannot do anything about it, because all he _sees_ is endless light…

Sam walks in the light with the ancient Primes, and maybe he's just as dead, and maybe they are just as alive. Time rushes and roars around them, a mighty wind tearing at the edges of the world, and stands still. The Primes speak to him of valor, honor, destiny, and he hears them too, but he also hears Mikaela sobbing over his body, repeating three simple words over and over, and maybe it is the same thing. Maybe it is the only thing that matters,

because it is all he can say when he comes to, clutching at Mikaela for dear life.

"I," he tells her, "I love you. I love you."

He can't stop, can't say it enough.

The Matrix is miraculously whole in his hand.

Sam screams with effort and maybe in terror when he plunges the Matrix into Optimus Prime's heart, and breathes, "I love you," and watches infinite light flare up in Optimus's eyes.

When Jetfire rips out his own heart, offering up everything he is, giving freely something Optimus Prime would never ask for, Sam understands. The ancient Seeker speaks of power and legacy and, Jesus, spare parts, but what he's saying is, "I love you."

Optimus Prime does not speak of love, and Sam's heart does not exactly skip a beat as he accepts solemn gratitude. It is about faith and trust, and hope, and a future they all suddenly have again. Sam's chest feels tight, though, and his head is strangely light when he looks up -- and up, -- looks Optimus in the eye, seeing what the Prime had always known: a force that moves the sun and all the stars.


End file.
